An “ekranoplan” literally “screen plane” is a vehicle resembling an aircraft, but operating solely on the principle of ground effect. Ground effect vehicles (GEV) fly above any flat surface, with the height above ground dependent upon the size of the vehicle.
During cold war, ekranoplans were sighted for years on the Caspian Sea as huge, fast-moving objects. The name Caspian Sea Monster was given by U.S. intelligence operatives who had discovered the huge vehicle, which looked like an airplane with the outer halves of the wings removed.After the end of the Cold War, the “monster” was revealed to be one of several Russian military designs meant to fly only a few meters above water, saving energy and staying below enemy radar.
The KM, as the Caspian Sea Monster was known in the top secret Sovietmilitary development program, was over 100 m long (330 ft), weighed 540 tonnes fully loaded, and could travel over 400 km/h (250 mi/h), mere meters above the surface of the water.
The important design principle is that wing lift is reduced as operating altitude of the ekranoplan is increased (see ground effect). Thus it is dynamically stable in the vertical dimension. Once moving at speed, the ekranoplan was no longer in contact with the water, and could move over ice, snow, or level land with equal ease.
These craft were originally developed by the Soviet Union as very high-speed (several hundred km/hour) military transports, and were mostly based on the shores of the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The largest could transport over 100 tonnes of cargo. The development of ekranoplans was supported by Dmitri Ustinov, Minister of Defence of USSR. About 120 ekranoplans (A-90 Orlyonok class) were initially planned to enter military service in the Soviet Navy. The figure was later reduced to less than thirty vehicles, planned to be deployed mainly for the Black and the Baltic Soviet navies. Marshal Ustinov died in 1985, and the new Minister of Defence Marshal Sokolov effectively ceased the funding for the program. The only three operational A-90 Orlyonok ekranoplans built (with renewed hull design) and one Lun-class ekranoplan remained at a naval base near Kaspiysk.
This is “Caspian Monster”.
They could fire missiles…
…and could go above the ground as well, coming on the shore from the sea without slowing down…
…as well as carrying some tanks…
…and act in cooperation with traditional fleet.
The all photos above were made during the Soviet Era, when the Soviet state had money and desire to experiment with this strange ekranoplanes. These days almost none of the left in working condition.
VIDEO
What do You think about those “Monsters”?
Do You think it could be a useful weapon?
(s3572)
ReplyDeleteLooks like soviets wanted a cheap version of airplane and did some budget cuts on their wings...
In my opinion Russian are able to create very specific machines. I can't find it on YT but someday I saw there a something like amfibia but besides wheels or either trucks it has two big spirals.
ReplyDeleteEverything is useful if you know how to use it :)
ReplyDeleteProbably those machines served their purpose. Without specific knowledge we can't say right now if they were useful, needed etc. back then or not.
Wow! It's something between plane and hovercraft! Russian have much more strange and mystery things. Next week i'm going to write something about the strangest in my opinion.
ReplyDeletehmm... what about bigger waves?
ReplyDeleteI didn't see it turning in the movie. That could be the problem. Easy target when it cannot turn fast.
I agree, they may be hidden for radars but on the surface of water without possibility to turn fast they are easy targets for enemy units. And i cant imagine it 'flying' over wavy surface too. They could be useful when soviets needed to transport few units from one shore to another fast.
ReplyDeletewow, i've never heard about that.
ReplyDeletethat's a little similiar to hovercrafts, isn't it?
i wonder why it's not used in commercial enviroments like fast passenger transport. that could be a much faster way to travel over i.e. la manche than the usual ferry.
Maybe they are not useful as a weapon but useful as a transport. For me weapon is F-16 or F-22 which are:
ReplyDeleteSmall
Ultrafast
Agile
Hi-tech weapons
Invisible for radars
Can take off/land from everything expect water ;)
Not dependant on weather
Take off/land from aircraft carrier when then have full service
As for transport I think that Hercules is more useful than these “monsters” Why? The navy used naval mines very often during the war..: ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_mine
PS: F-22 have thrust vectoring – very nice ;D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrust_vectoring
An interesting idea. Not visible on the radar, fast and can transport much. That makes it a good carrier for weapons and troops. It could be even a good and fast weapon if it could be adapted for desert areas.
ReplyDeletewhile speaking in terms of crazy ideas the whole Cold War era was great, like this 'screw tank' http://www.break.com/index/screw-tank.html
ReplyDeleteengineering really evolves and develops in those times, and ideas which were "real" now look funny and weird
I think that this is not very useful nowadays, because of planes and heli supremacy... However it is good way of transporting through the see.. I remember when I was child there was 2 of such ekranoplanes on Hel routes..
ReplyDeleteI think that poor weather is not cookies for this monsters:)But one 2 words at the and of post: "DAMN FAST"!
wow, that's incredible! Russian engineers were great.. There was a funny saying about stuff made in russia. Russian stuff "gniotsja nie łamiotsja". ;o) which meant that russian stuff will never work perfectly but also never will give you reason to throw it away. ;o)
ReplyDeleteI agree that war is great opportunity for inventing new technologies that in the future can be used even by everyone (like Internet etc. ;) And I believe those ecranoplanes could be useful too.
ReplyDelete